Yann Demange

Londonraised French director of cinema and television Yann Demange is of Algerian and French ancestry Following the success of his television shows Dead Set 2008 and Top Boy 2011 he made his feature film directing debut in 2014 with the highly regarded indie film 71 for which he won the British Independent Film Award for Best Director Demange whose parents were Algerian and French was born in Paris When he was two years old his mother and two elder halfbrothers relocated to London first to the south and later to the west of the city Demange was reared in two fouryear foster care placements in Essex between the ages of four and twelve one with a Frenchspeaking family and the other with a white Cockney family His parents separated soon after the family relocated to London His first name was originally Mounir but after his parents divorced one of his halfbrothers persuaded his mother to alter it to Yann and Mounir became his middle name This allowed him to avoid prejudice due to his Arabic name Demange a French citizen has stated that he mostly identifies as a Londoner and does not have a distinct sense of national identification Before the nations civil war broke out in the summer of 1991 he flew to Algeria to see his extended relatives It was on this journey that he first saw The Battle of Algiers a movie in which Demanges aunt made an appearance as one of the numerous uncredited performers He claimed that learning about his aunts part in the movie deepened his appreciation for it As absurd as it sounds on some level I think I felt like I had discovered an inheritance to some sort of personal lineage in films At the age of eighteen he started working as a runner on music video sets before enrolling at the London College of Printings arts foundation Later he produced observational films for General Electric Disney provided a scholarship for Demange to attend the National Film and Television School while he was in his late 20s Based on his graduation film he landed a partnership with ICM Partners leading to his directing many episodes of the TV show Secret Diary of a Call Girl 2007 After that he directed the 2008 zombie horror series Dead Set which received a BAFTA Television Award nomination for Best Drama Serial Demange was nominated for a BAFTA Television Award for Best Director for his work directing Channel 4s Top Boy 2011 a gang drama set in Hackney The serial was also nominated for Best MiniSeries  In 2014 Demange made his feature film directing debut with 71 starring Jack OConnell as a soldier sent to Belfast during the height of political unrest in Northern Ireland 71 had its Berlin International Film Festival competitive premiere and went on to win praise from critics In addition to being nominated for a BAFTA Award for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer Director or Producer Demange also received the British Independent Film Award for Best Director Additionally Demange has been praised as a bright emerging talent in British cinema  His latest project is directing Marvel Studios Blade 2025 set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe